#4 Rose GARBER Siblings

derek4440
Sep 10, 2022
25 min read

Updated: Dec 21, 2024

The Billion Dollar Group, & thats without Elvis!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL-2yPyoRS6tdogDJ5Q8KBbYafOjwL0Yab&v=UMVjToYOjbM

The Traveling Wilburys - End of The Line, the Billion Dollar Group the brainchild of George HARRISON (The Beatles), Tom PETTY (Heartbreakers), Bob DYLAN, Jeff LYNNE (ELO), & Roy ORBISON who had died, remembered by his guitar on the rocking chair

GARBER, ROSE SIBLINGS

Before we start let me dismiss a common belief that states that Jews who entered the USA through Ellis Island, which was the main entry point into NEW YORK, came into AMERICA, if they wanted to, under assumed names. This is totally false as all people Jew or Gentile entering AMERICA through Ellis Island came in using the name which they were known by where they lived in Euope

Many Jews, especially those men that came on their own, often re-invented themselves. Once they cleared immigration at Ellis Island under their correct name, they then caught the ferry to Manhattan & the Lower East Side. On the ferry they threw away their identification, adopted a new name, so Yankel HURWITZ, became John SMITH, & the Jew became a Gentile.

Their Parents were

Peretz GARBER Born 20.FEB/1867, POLANIEC, RUSSIA

Married abt 1895 LAGOW, Opatow, RUSSIA,

Rywka KATZ Born 26/OCT/1870 LAGOW, Opatow, RUSSIA

Died 21/JAN/1959 19 Roseville Terrace, LEEDS,

Peretz Died 8/MAY/1955 18 Roseville Terrace, LEEDS

They had 6 Children

Having said all this let’s move onto Rose’s Siblings, & start with her elder Sister

Edith GARBER

Born 24/DEC/1896 LAGOW, Opatow, RUSSIA

Died 17/NOV/1980 Bronx, NEW YORK, USA Age 83 years old

Edith GARBER

Like Rose, Edith led a very confusing life. Bear in mind I hadn’t met Edith & I was always led to believe Edith was a Spinster, yet her name was Edith GORDON. I still don’t know who Mr. GORDON was, or if indeed he ever existed.

Edith first appeared in the UK in the 1911 Census as Edith GARBER a 15 year old Tailors Machinist living at 5 Back Benson Street, LEEDS, which was in the area called the Leylands.

Edith GARBER 1911 Census

It appears that Edith GARBER Married Mendel GERTLER 26/MAY/1918 at the Central Synagogue Wintoun Street, LEEDS, & he Died 15/JUL/1918 Age 33 years old, about 6 weeks after the wedding. Her husband was called Max on his headstone in New Farnley Cemetery. (The Wintoun Street Synagogue became the Vilna Synagogue in what used to be the KINGSWAY Cinema at the bottom of Falkland Mount, where I used to live as a child, & now is the ETZ CHAIM Synagogue at ALWOODLEY)

KINGSWAY Cinema which became the VILNA Synagogue

As an aside I used to go the Kingsway Cinema twice a week as a child, firstly with my parents, then as I grew up on my own or with my pals. It was here in 1948 that I say the State of Israel declared & followed the various wars that she had to fight, as there wasn't any television in those days.

Edith GERTLER then Married Morris MILLER 19/JUN/1924, aka Moss MILLER, LEEDS, UK who was a pal of my Dad’s when I was a young lad. It appears that Moss had been Married & Divorced previously from Mamie BARNETT, & its possible his original surname was LASMAN. One of the Witness's at the Wedding was Edith's Brother & my favourite Uncle; Leslie. I met Moss MILLER a number of times without knowing he'd ever been Married to my Aunt Edith. I usually met him at his place of business which was a Drapery Warehouse in an old building on, or close to, Back Benson Street, where Edith used to live

We then find that Edith MILLER on her own left LIVERPOOL on CUNARD’S CARMANIA bound for QUEBEC, CANADA on 1/OCT/1924, less than 4 months after her Marriage to Moss. I’ve not been able to find any Divorce between Edith & Moss, nor his Death. She was Passenger #99187 with Country of Intended Future Residence shown as CANADA.

Copy of Ships Manifest

The next fact we have for Edith is 11/MAY/1937 when Yetta GORDON applied for & was allocated Social Security Number: 116-01-0613 at 56 Featherbed Lane, Bronx, NYC, USA. I’ve not been able to find any record of Edith/Yetta GARBER/GORDON/MILLER legally crossing the border from CANADA to USA.

I spent a whole day at the National Archives, checking for the above & even enrolled the help of some of the senior staff without any benefit. I also employed a Professional Genealogist in CANADA but wasn’t able to find anything more than I had found myself.

Apartment Featherbed Lane

Edith’s Social Security showed she worked as Gowns Sales at TAPPS 60 East 14th Street, NYC, not far from Union Square, which was a VIRGIN Record Store when we visited there. Incidentally Yetta is Yiddish for Edith.

Copy Social Security

This is a record of Edith's Social Security details, but NOT the original, as I'm unable to find this at the moment

So, by 11/MAY/1937 Edith is now living at 56 Featherbed Lane, Bronx, NEW YORK, (just over the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey) this is proven by her Social Security Application & she is given Number 116-01-0613A & is called Yetta GORDON. Now I know Yetta is the Yiddish for Edith, but I have no idea where the GORDON surname has come from, though this is the surname we’ve always known her by. I have looked in both CANADA & AMERICA, to see if I can find any record of her Marriage to someone called GORDON, but all to no avail, so this one more mystery! On one of my explorations I visited her address in the Bronx, & the apartment building is still there, though her place of work, at the same time, where she was a Gowns Sales Person at Tapps at 60 East 14th Street, NEW YORK, very close to Union Square, was a VIRGIN Record Shop when I was there, but this has since closed.

I think you will agree with me when I said Edith was always a "Woman of Mystery"

I rented a Limo & Driver & spent a day visiting all the address’s I had for Edith in NEW YORK, including The Jewish Home & Hospital For Aged, 100 West Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, NY 10468, which was where Edith lived & eventually Died. When I visited the home, though they were quite helpful they literally had no records on Edith. I found that institutions in America, were either unhelpful, or just plain incompetent when it came to information on family members.

Edith, Derek, Joan & Dani Jewish Home Bronx 1976

For instance, I contacted all the likely Jewish Funeral Directors, & also Jewish Cemeteries to be told by all of them they hadn’t officiated at Edith’s Funeral, only to find later, when I found conclusive proof on her Death Certificate that two of them had. This didn’t just happen with Edith, but with other family members as well.

Whilst in NEW YORK & being frustrated by all the negativity from the various institutions, I happened to vocalise this to a taxi driver taking me back to my hotel after a very frustrating day. He suggested I got in touch with the Bureau of Vital Records. Next morning, I presented myself there & was waiting in line for the pigeon holes to open. All the people in front of me were either black or brown, & as the first pigeon hole opened, each person was refused the information they requested. While I was waiting, I noticed that written on the wall was the notice informing you that no information would be given out without either a Social Security Card, New York State Driving Licence, Passport or US Forces pay book. As I didn’t have one of these with me, I was just about to leave, when it was my turn. I told the clerk that I didn’t have the required proof of identity & I was returning to the UK later that day, which I was, & she took pity on me. I paid the fee & she gave me an envelope for them to post the Death Certificate in. Within the week the DC arrived at our house in Knightsbridge, & guess what, the funeral director was one who I’d contacted, the Cemetery was also one I’d contacted.

Edith Death Certificate

Besides this confirmation, there was also some additional information on the DC, though one had take some of it with pinch of salt. For instance, it stated she was Born in ENGLAND, had NEVER been Married, & even spelt her Father’s Name incorrectly. But it showed that the “Name of Informant” was Rachel SOBEL, who was shown as Edith’s “Niece”, with an Address in SPRING VALLEY, NY. I decided to visit SPRING VALLEY, NY & see if I could trace Rachel SOBEL. SPRING VALLEY is roughly 30 miles North of Manhattan, but it could be the other side of the moon. It’s mainly a Latino & African American population with Hasidic communities like MONSEY. Besides checking everywhere, I could think of, I really didn’t make any progress. I did visit the Funeral Director & later with Joan hired a Limo to take us to Brooklyn & drove us to Edith’s grave in Section 3, Block B, Line 6, Grave 28, New Mount Carmel Cemetery, Brooklyn & finally said Kaddish for her.

Edith GORDON (previously GARBER) Grave Brooklyn, NEW YORK

The reason that the statement that Rachel SOBEL was Edith's niece set alarm bells ringing was that I was always under the impression that I was her only living relative, as her parents & siblings had all died by then, & none of her siblings had children. There was no issue from either of her two Marriages in LEEDS, so unless she had got Married in either CANADA or AMERICA, maybe to the missing Mr GORDON & this was somehow connected to him, I just didn’t see where Rachel came to be her niece. I think it’s possible that Rachel SOBEL was a friend rather than her “Niece”.

I also looked up Edith on the Social Security Death Index & found the Death Benefit had been paid to ZIP Code 10977, which is ROCKLAND COUNTY, & includes SPRING VALLEY. I found Rachel SOBEL’S address at Cadillac Mansions, 278 North Main Street, SPRING VALLEY, which was practically next door to the YESHIVA. Nobody at Cadillac Mansions, or the Yeshiva had any knowledge of Edith (who I didn’t think had ever lived there, but might have visited), or the SOBEL’S who definitely had).

Though I tried various other places in the vicinity, both Jewish & secular, including spending a considerable amount of time at what was the local town hall, where they promised to look into early records, as there wasn’t anything listed for the SOBEL’S in their current records, they never came back to me, so that was another dead end.

I did eventually find that both Rachel & Murray SOBEL had moved to FLORIDA, where they had subsequently died, so there wasn't anything further I could pursue there..

As I child during & after the war Edith used to send me the occasional parcel which contained American Comics, Chewing Gum, & wonder of wonders on one occasion Bubble Gum in a big plastic globe dispenser. I was the most popular kid at school the day I took my Bubble Gum to school & shared it with my school mates.

When we went as a Family to America on holiday in July/August 1977 we met Edith, who at the time was a Resident in The Jewish Home & Hospital for Aged, 100 West Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, NY 10468. We spent an hour or so with her, & Joan & I went to see her again in November 1980, but by then she was in a coma, which was awful. As we got back to Fulwith a few days later, the telephone was ringing, & when I answered it was someone informing me that Edith had just Died. I think that person was possibly Rachel SOBEL.

Edith with Sean, Dani & Lisa Jewish Home Bronx 1976

The 1940 Census shows her living at 1561 Walton Avenue, Bronx, NEW YORK, as Edith GORDON, Single, lived alone, & was head of the household. It also states she was 42 yrs old (think she was being economical with the truth, as that would mean her DofB was 1898). It also states she was Born in POLAND. She worked 40hrs a week as a Waitress in a “Food Restaurant” & earned $1250 in the past 52 weeks. Under Citizenship she is shown as “AL” which I’ve taken to mean “Alien”. This might mean she crossed the land border between CANADA & AMERICA illegally.

There’s much more I could say about Edith, but the most important was probably her relationship with Rudy BLAKE. I have photos of the two of them together dated SEP/1948 in CHICAGO, & in PALM BEACH in MAR/1980 (sic), yet I’ve been unable to find any trace whatsoever of Rudy officially!!! During this period, we believe she lived in YONKERS, which is near NEW YORK, & this could have been Rudy’s home, but again we’ve no proof.

Edith & Rudy in Chicago

Edith & Rudy in Palm Beach

Let’s now move onto my favourite Uncle

Leslie GARBER Born 24/DEC/1901 LAGOW, RUSSIA Died 22/DEC/1965 LEEDS, UK Age 63 years old Married 20/AUG/1947 LEEDS, UK Shirley GOLDBERG Born 6/JUN/1908 NEWCASTLE, UK Died 13/DEC/1984 LEEDS, UK Age 76 years old No Children

Leslie GARBER in Dinner Suit (is this pure Hollywood?)

Leslie Married Shirley 20/AUG/1947 at Adlemans Hotel, LEEDS.

I remember as a young child going to see Leslie in the LGI when he’d had an operation on either an eye or on both eyes. Leslie always made a fuss of me, but in a manly way, which I liked much better than the attention I got, in particular from my Aunt Cissie. Of course, being the only Grandchild/Nephew I got more than my fair share of attention, which contrasted with the total lack of attention from the GINSBERG side.

Though I didn't realise it at the time Leslie was the one who kept everything in order in the family. He looked after his parents as Edith was in America, Cissie was in London, Hymie I think was the wild child, & Max wasn't capable, so I think it was down to Leslie & possibly my Mother. I think he also protected his parents from knowing when his siblings got into trouble. For instance I think it unlikely that they knew what Cissie got up to in London, & when Hymie went AWOL from the Army. He looked after Max & made sure he had somewhere to live & probably helped him get employment. It also wouldn't surprise me if he helped members of the family financially when they were low on funds. I'm sure when my Mothers relationship with her companion came to an end, he probably helped her get over it & made sure their parents were kept in the dark. Leslie was one of the finest men I ever knew, he was a MENSCH.

I understand that Leslie went to BRAZIL as a young man, but I’ve been unable to find any confirmation. He also had a relationship with a Gentile lady, before he met Shirley, & when he Died she asked if she could attend his funeral, which Shirley agreed to. He was a Cabinet Maker as a younger man, & when I was growing up, he gave me all his Stanley Tools, which I made good use of. When I was 13 years old, he took me, or rather I took him, to a shop on I think King Edward Street in the centre of LEEDS, where he bought me a Diana Air Rifle, & an Air Pistol, which I had for many years.

Leslie & Shirley Wedding Photo

When Joan was going for instruction & we went to Shul on Friday night we used to go to Leslie & Shirley’s after the Service. This was a wonderful time for both of us, not that we did anything, it was just the warmth that we felt, & a feeling of belonging. You might be able to understand how I felt when I had to tell Leslie & Shirley, that they couldn’t come to our wedding, as my Mother wouldn’t let us invite any other family members!

Leslie & Shirley GARBER KETUBAH

Leslie went into hospital & it turned out to be stomach cancer. He wanted to see his great nephew & niece before he died & because of his condition the ward Sister gave us permission to take Sean & Dani to see Leslie. When we came out & the children were in the back seat of the car Sean who wasn't quite four years old, suddenly says, "I dont suppose we'll be seeing Uncle Leslie again as he's dying". Shortly after this I had to go to LONDON on business & when I set off to drive back to LEEDS it was already evening. I was driving up the A1, as this was before the M1 was built, & I could feel my eyes closing as I was so tired. I made it as far as I could but when I saw a motel at the side of the road called Brampton Hut I called it a day & stopped there overnight. Leslie died that night & I never got the opportunity of saying goodbye to my very favourite Uncle.

Standing Label, Mum, Dad & Leslie Sitting Me, Bobbie, Shirley, Zaide

After Leslie Died we started going to Shul on Saturday mornings, & we used to go to Shirley’s & take her for Lunch at Bertollini’s on Street Lane. We also met Shirley in Grand Blanc where her Nephew Malcom ISAAC lived with his family. From there we took her to NEW YORK where we all stayed at the PLAZA Hotel, & one night took her to a Middle Eastern Restaurant where they had Belly Dancing. She was still full of life & wanting to stay longer when Joan & I were tired out.

Shirley with The Three Musketeers

Shirley, was all the family’s favourite Aunt, she was a remarkable person, loved by all who knew her.

Two of my Favourite Females, Shirley & Joan, indulging in their favourite pastime “becking”

Shirley the Families Favourite Aunt

Before she knew Leslie, Shirley had met & Married Charles GOLDBERG from MANCHESTER, who was a Hairdresser. Charley as Shirley called him was in the RAF in WWII stationed at SINGAPORE when the JAPANESE captured it, & Charley together with 80,000 other British forces went into captivity in the largest surrender of British forces in history. I knew Charley didn’t survive the war, & eventually I employed a specialist historian to try & find what happened to Charley. Surprisingly he was able to find that Charley together with many other ALLIED POWs was being transferred by a Japanese Hospital Ship SS SUEZ MARU which was attacked & sunk by an American Submarine USS BONEFISH in the Flores Sea off The Port of Ambon In Dutch East Indies. The prisoners were all shackled together & as the ship was sinking, the Japanese Admiral ordered the prisoners to be machine gunned in the water. After the war, the Americans didn’t want to pursue the Japanese for War Crimes, probably because of their involvement in sinking a Hospital Ship marked with a Red Cross, however the Australians did, as many of the prisoners were from Oz.

You might find this article interesting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Suez_Maru

This war crime was extensively investigated in 1949, following its reporting by one of the c.200 wounded Japanese soldiers aboard the Suez Maru that day, a Yoshio Kashiki. Dozens of first hand accounts and sworn statements were taken from twenty-two individuals; suspects and eye witnesses, Kawano and Iketani being arrested. A memorial to the 414 British POWs aboard Suez Maru who were murdered by the Japanese was dedicated on 29 November 2013 at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.

Like Samuel before him, Charley had no known grave & was commemorated at Kranji War Cemetery, on Column 429, in SINGAPORE. We took a taxi out to the other side of the island to the memorial & said Kaddish for Charley, but really it was a thank you to Shirley for all the kindness’s & love she had shown our Family,

Kranji War Memorial

War Memorial Inscription Charles GOLDBERG

Next we come to Hyman GARBER Born possibly 10/JUL/1902, but we've not been able to confirm where he was Born. Hymie Died 8/FEB/1952 in Pinderfields Hospital, WAKEFIELD, UK Age 48 years old, after a very long illness. Though Hymie was bed ridden as long as I remember I liked him very much.

Hymie “Ginger” GARBER

Uncle Hymie, also known as Ginger because of his Red Hair was by about 1938 showing signs of his illness, which can be seen in a photo of him holding me. I always remember Hymie as being bed-ridden, usually in the living room of his parent’s home 19 Roseville Terrace, LEEDS, or for a short time he was in a bed in our Dining Room.

Hymie never Married & no Birth records were found in the UK, & of course none exist in LAGOW, & I have deduced that its possible that Hymie was Born whilst my Bobbie & Zaide were on their way from LAGOW to the USA. That’s not a typo, as the family thought they were going to AMERICA, but like many emigrants before & after them, they were duped. It’s most probable that they walked from LAGOW to KIELCE, where they would have caught the train, first to WARSAW, then to BERLIN, & finally to HAMBURG. Here they would have bought tickets for the steamship to NEW YORK, but were sold ones to HULL or GRIMSBY, but not being able to read the GERMAN, which was in Latin script they were easily fooled. Once in ENGLAND, they set off no doubt for LIVERPOOL, to catch another boat, but only got as far as LEEDS, & probably couldn’t go any further, especially if Hyman had been Born on the journey, as they already had Leslie, Rose & Edith. The UK brought in the Aliens Act in 1905, principally to stop the immigration of Jews from Russia coming to the UK, so assume they travelled in 1904, that would mean their children were Edith 7 years, Rose 5 years, Leslie 2 years, & Hyman a matter of weeks old. How they & hundreds of thousands of other emigrants managed to cross from Eastern Europe to America still amazes me.

My uncle Hymie holding me outside our house in 1938

There is a story that Hymie as a young man after the end of WWI couldn’t find work, so he enlisted in the army, & it turned out he was a good boxer, & became the regimental champion. One day he had an argument with his Sergeant & knocked him out, & deserted. He got away with this & years later re-enlisted & ended up with the same Sergeant & probably did time in a military prison & was discharged from the Army. How true this is I don’t know, as I haven’t been able to verify it, though I have been able to prove he was in the 8th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment from 16/APR/1920 until discharged in 5/JUL/1921.

Hymie GARBER Soldier

Hymie had a form of Spondylitis which crippled him, & our relatives in AMERICA sent Cortisone, which was a very new drug, & unavailable in the UK at that time. Because of this the doctors didn’t know how to administer it, what dosage etc, & if anything this hastened his death, which was a tragedy.

Max GARBER

We next come to Max always known to everybody as Label Born 29/DEC/1910 LEEDS, UK

Died 13/JUN/1983 LEEDS, UK Age 72 years old

Maxie “Label” GARBER

Maxie was lovely person & never Married. I was told that Label had fallen out of a window as a child this was to explain his condition, which I don’t believe is true. Label was a Leeds United supporter & he never had to pay to go to Elland Road. He worked all his life, but as he couldn’t read or write he could only do manual jobs, but fortunately he was exceptionally strong so that wasn’t a problem.

As young boy he was protected by his two brothers, Hymie taught him to box so nobody could take advantage of him, & Leslie saw to everything else. After Leslie Died we took over the responsibility of looking after Maxie, I say we, but it was mainly Joan. By the time Maxie had retired he moved from a hostel called Shaftesbury House to Meanwood Park Hospital, off Stonegate Road, LEEDS. Joan used to drive up in her ROLLS ROYCE & pick Maxie up & take him to the Lakeside Café in Roundhay Park for Lunch, & if any of the other patients used to approach Joan or the car, Maxie would shoo them away.

After Leslie died we "inherited" Maxie & he used to come round twice a week for dinner. He took to Lisa who was only a baby at the time, & he used to love to feed her.

Finally, we come to the youngest who was Sarah Hilda GARBER Born 19/APR/1912 LEEDS, UK Died 19/MAR/1996 LONDON, UK Age 73 years old Married Nathan COHEN 16/OCT/1934 LEEDS but never had any children.

Cissie Wedding

Nathan was an Analytical Chemist, very unusual profession for a Jewish man at that time. I believe Cissie, as she was known at that time, Married Nathan to get away from home, & though they didn’t divorce until 16/JUN/1947, I know she went to live in LONDON well before WWII.

Cissie used to come up from LONDON during the war & stayed at my parents. Even to a child I could tell there was something different about her. She dressed in furs & very expensive looking clothes with lots of jewellery & makeup, to me she was very glamourous. She also used to be very affectionate with me, in a similar way to my Bobbie. She used to call me “my Derekel”, & give me big kisses.

Cissie

One time she came up with her “Husband” Paul (she was still married to Nathan at this time) & staid at the Queens Hotel in LEEDS. We went to meet them at the hotel, & as we walked into a nearly deserted restaurant, Paul gave the Head Waiter a White Fiver, which was the first time I’d ever seen a note of that value. (That is the equivalent of £275 today) Though I can’t remember what we had to eat I do know we had Champagne, & this was during war time!

White “Fiver”

Paul JOHNSON in FRANCE

Cissie & Paul

Paul who was a total mystery to me, & I think to everybody else, was supposedly called Paul JOHNSON, though how that fitted with being FRENCH I don’t know. He was also supposed to be a “smuggler” & Died in a FRENCH Prison sometime after 1955. I know he was living in PARIS on 8/MAR/1955 as I have a copy of the Telegram he sent to 19 Roseville Terrace, with condolences on the Death of Cissies Father (My Zaide)

Copy of Telegram

That & photos, & my memory of that one meeting, are the only proof I have of Paul’s connection with our Family. Despite me searching the various databases I cant find any proof that Cissie & Paul were ever Married, even though in later life Cissie, became Mrs. Viveane JOHNSON, (also spelt Vivian) Though we decided to call her Sarah Hilda COHEN when she was buried in Adath Yisroel, a very Orthodox Jewish Cemetery, in CHESHUNT.

Cissies Headstone

As to Cissie’s life in LONDON, she like her siblings is very mysterious. I know for a fact that in the early 1960’s she lived in a top floor flat in SACKVILLE STREET, off PICCADILLY, LONDON as myself & Joan with a couple of close friends (Beryl & Geoff EDWARDS) went there for Dinner, & Cissie cooked us a classic French meal. How she afforded to live in such an expensive flat I have no idea. Well not strictly true, as I suspect, though again have no proof, that Cissie was involved in the sex trade, &/or Paul’s smuggling operation.

I do know over the years as Cissie morphed into Viveane she moved to less desirable lodgings, & lived with less well-heeled people than Paul. She finally lived alone in a council flat close to Westway. When Cissie Died I was her nearest relative & had the responsibility of arranging her Funeral, which I would never have managed without the help of a driver we used when we were in LONDON, who fortunately was Jewish & well connected religiously, who literally arranged everything with the Cemetery at CHESHUNT. Even on the day of the burial, because we didn’t know of any of Cissie’s friends the driver & I were the only two Jewish males there, so he went over to another Burial taking place nearby & asked for the men to make up a Minyan for Cissie. (You need 10 Jewish Men in the Orthodox form of Judaism to say Prayers)

You may notice that I use the terms BOBBIE & ZAIDE & also GRANDMOTHER & GRANDFATHER. I use Bobbie & Zaide for my Mothers Parents Peretz GARBER & Rivka (nee KATZ), who I loved & who loved me. My Father’s Parents Bernard GINSBERG & Sarah (nee LEVY/ZAGOFSKY) I refer to them as my GRANDPARENTS, as they never showed me any affection, & apparently were very cold as Parents to their own Children.

While mentioning my BOBBIE & ZAIDE & also GRANDMOTHER & GRANDFATHER, those of you who very observant & also knowledgeable regarding Judaism, may have noticed something interesting. My BOBBIE whose maiden name was KATZ, was a COHEN, whereas my GRANDMOTHER was a LEVI.

Levites are the descendants of the Tribe of Levi, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. A Levi is a Jewish male who claims patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. Is this important well, yes, it is, as all my Descendants will be governed by an event which took place over 65 years ago, when Joan & I went to BRANSBY LODGE to see about Joan taking instructions for embracing Judaism. We were interviewed, no more interrogated by a person unknown to us, but apparently well known in the community, called Louis SAIPE. Obviously the first thing he wanted to know was our names, & as I was the Jewish one, he was more interested in my background. He made out that he didn’t know of me or my Family, & of course didn’t know Joan, & was quite insulting to both of us & especially to Joan. After about half an hour he told us regardless of what he felt, even if he agreed to put Joan forward for instruction, we couldn’t get Married in an Orthodox Shul as I was a Levite. This was after saying he didn’t even know who my Family were!

You have to remember I was brought up Orthodox, I even wore TZITZIS (traditional garment worn by Jewish Males to remind them of the Commandments) until I was 13 years old, & didn’t even know there was any other form of Judaism. Fortunately for us we soon found out about the SINAI SHUL, & had a completely different reception when we went there.

Sinai Leopold Street

We went to the SINAI SHUL for a Friday night service which was held in an end terrace house on LEOPOLD STREET, CHAPELTOWN, LEEDS. The service was held in a room on the ground floor, & after the service we all trooped upstairs for an ONEG SHABBAT, where we approached the GERMAN Born RABBI, called Rabbi BIENHEIM, who spoke English with a very “mittle” European accent. You also have to remember, firstly we were both teenagers, & secondly after what we had gone through with Louis SAIPE, we were quite nervous, & we were nodding in agreement with everything that Rabbi BIENHEIM said. It was only when he asked me if I was circumcised, & quickly followed up by saying of course it isn’t important for the man to be Jewish, that we realised he thought I was a Gentile & Joan was Jewish. We soon straightened that out & Joan went through her course of instruction with Rabbi Henry BRANDT, & then finally we travelled to LONDON with Lou & Marcia ROSE, where Marcia was also taking the Examination. Both passed their Examination with the Beth Din, & on the way back we stopped for Dinner at the GEORGE hotel in STAMFORD. Whilst Lou & Marcia went to phone their parents, I surprised Joan by slipping the Engagement Ring on her finger, & in one day she became Jewish & my Fiancée!

George Hotel STAMFORD

Because the Reform Shul’s in the UK, & the Conservative Shuls in the US have a more progressive view, I can claim to be a LEVI, though probably not through the Orthodox.

I feel I must mention the SHO'AH which is the Hebrew word associated with "The Holocaust" but actually translates as "Catastrophe". The original Hebrew word HURBAN was used to describe the Destruction of the Temple, first by the Babylonians in 587 BCE & then by the Romans in 70 CE. The word GENOCIDE means the "deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group"

The term Shoʾah is also preferred by speakers of Hebrew and those wishing to be more particular about the Jewish experience or who are uncomfortable with the religious connotations of the word Holocaust. The term Shoʾah emphasises the annihilation of the Jews—not the totality of Nazi victims, which also included the Germans deemed intellectually, physically, or emotionally unfit who were murdered through the T4 “euthanasia” program, as well as the Roma and Sinti (pejoratively known as Gypsies), homosexuals, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The word Holocaust is derived from the Greek holokauston, a translation of the Hebrew word ʿolah, meaning a burnt sacrifice offered whole to God. This word was chosen, and gained wide usage, because, in the ultimate manifestation of the Nazi killing program—the extermination camps—the bodies of the victims were consumed whole in crematoria or open fires. Cremation not only destroys them today, it also destroys their immortality

I feel as something that was conducted uniquely against us the Jews we should use a Jewish term, therefore I shall use the word SHO'AH. Never in the whole of human history has anything approaching the SHO'AH ever been attempted. The GERMANS, with their usual efficiency, devised a method for the removal of a whole race/religion of people on a world wide scale. This started before WWII but intensified after Operation Barbarossa, when the GERMANS invaded the USSR on 22/JUN/1941, & then called the Wansee Conference on 20/JAN/1942 to coordinate the "Final Solution to the Jewish Problem".From this point until the end of the war in Europe on 8/MAY/1945 the GERMANS & their hundred of thousands of willing accomplices spared no effort in murdering as many of the 11,000,000 Jews in Europe as possible. They even gave priority to the murder of the Jews over fighting the Allies, such was their determination to murder us. The part of our family which suffered the heaviest losses was the KATZ family & those married ti them. Though we don't have any proof it's possible that the GARBER & GINSBERG Families suffered badly as well.

As mentioned elsewhere in this blog the GERMANS placed ALL their Extermination Camps in POLAND.

This map shows the six Extermination Camps in Poland, in alphabetical order they are; AUSCHWITZ, BELZEC, CHELMO, MAJDANEK, SOBIBOR & TREBLINKA. AUSCHWITZ is the most well-known, also the largest, & in fact it is more than one camp. The Extermination Camp was actually AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU which is where the railway lines ran right into the camp. Whereas the infamous sign "Arbeit macht frei" (Work Sets You Free) is over AUSCHWITZ I, which originally was a Polish Army Barracks

Extermination camps were killing centres designed to carry out genocide. Between 1941 and 1945, the German Nazis established six extermination camps in German-occupied Polish territory. Both Auschwitz and Majdanek functioned as concentration and forced-labor camps as well as killing centre's. An estimated 3.5 million Jews were killed in these six extermination camps as part of the "Final Solution." Other victims included Roma (Gypsies) and Soviet prisoners of war.

The commander of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Rudolf Höss, stated in his autobiography that in 1941 (no exact date is given) he was summoned to Berlin, where Himmler informed him that Hitler had issued an order to solve the “Jewish Question” for good, and that the order was to be implemented by the SS. “The existing extermination places in the east are unsuited to a large scale, long-term action. I have designated Auschwitz for this purpose,” Himmler said. Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the concentration and extermination camps established on Polish soil, served concurrently as a labor camp and as a center for the rapid extermination of Jews. Chosen as the central location for the annihilation of the Jewish people, it was equipped with several extermination facilities and crematoria. Extermination was carried out by means of Zyklon B gas, a substance that had previously been tested on Russian prisoners of war. Birkenau (Auschwitz II) was established in October 1941, three kilometers from Auschwitz. Exterminations in Birkenau began in March 1942. There were four gas chambers in the camp that used Zyklon B gas. Until November 1944 the camp functioned as a factory for mass murder, receiving transports from all over Europe. Most of those brought to the camp were Jews and nearly all were immediately sent to the gas chambers. Only a small percentage was selected for labor in the camp itself, labor in munitions plants at satellite camps, or the “medical” experiments of Dr. Josef Mengele and his staff. In the spring and summer of 1944, the rate of extermination was increased as the Jews of Hungary and the Lodz ghetto were brought to the camp. The process of selection and murder was carefully planned and organized. When a train stopped at the platform, veteran prisoners received the victims and gathered their belongings in several barracks in an area known as “Kanada.” The arrivals were lined up in two columns – men and boys in one, women and girls in the other – and SS physicians performed a selection. The criterion was the appearance of the prisoners, whose fate, for labor or for death, was determined at will. Before they entered the chamber, they were told that they were about to be disinfected and ordered to undress. The doors of the chamber were locked and the gas was introduced. After the victims were murdered, their gold teeth were extracted and women’s hair was shorn by the Sonderkommando – groups of Jews forced to work in the crematoria. The bodies were hauled to the crematorium furnaces for incineration, the bones were pulverized and the ashes were scattered in the fields. Repeat selections took place several times during the day in roll calls. Inmates who had become weak or ill were separated from the ranks and sent to the gas chambers. A brutal regimen based on a set of punishments and torture was invoked in the camp. Few managed to survive. The Auschwitz camp complex was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on 27 January 1945. Tragically, by then approximately 1,000,000 Jews, 70,000 Poles, 25,000 Sinti and Roma, and some 15,000 prisoners of war from the USSR and other countries had been murdered at Auschwitz.